Food Studies News
Falk College Welcomes New Faculty
As we begin the Fall 2014 semester, Syracuse University’s Falk College is pleased to announce the appointment of five new outstanding faculty members: Beth Dixon, Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, Margaret Voss, Patrick Walsh, and Jennifer Wilkins. We also welcome Mine Göl-Güven as visiting assistant professor of child and family studies. Their exceptional wealth of academic and practical experience in their respective fields is complemented by their passion for teaching, research, scholarship and service. Each of them will offer students tremendous opportunities for learning inside and outside of the classroom. We invite you to read more about their accomplishments, and areas for potential collaboration
Falk College Seed Grants awarded for 2014-15
Each year, the David B. Falk College Research Center, in collaboration with the Dean’s Office, awards seed grants on a competitive basis to assist faculty with completing preparatory work for research projects that have a high likelihood to compete for external funding. The 2014-15 seed grant recipients include:
Development and evaluation of a mind-body awareness intervention to enhance self-regulation as a mechanism to promote healthy weight among young children.
Dessa Bergen-Cico, assistant professor, Public Health
Rachel Razza, assistant professor, Child and Family Studies
Cultivating food justice: using photovoice to document the outcomes of a pilot food system intervention program for youth
Evan Weissman, assistant professor, Food Studies
Housing and LGBTQ youth
Maria Brown, professor of practice, School of Social Work and Aging Studies Institute
Deborah Coolhart, assistant professor, Marriage and Family Therapy
How do Iraqi refugees experience and make sense of family relationships as they resettle in a host country?
Rashmi Gangamma, assistant professor, Marriage and Family Therapy
Falk Professor to Study Anaerobic Digesters for Small-scale Dairy Farms
Falk College professor of Food Studies, Rick Welsh, and Stefan Grimberg and Shane Rogers, two environmental engineers from Clarkson University, have received a competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture to develop educational and outreach materials related to smaller-scale anaerobic digesters.
In the U.S., anaerobic digesters have been seen as larger farm technologies since the more manure produced on a farm, the greater the amount of biogas produced too. This biogas is captured and burned to produce heat that can be used to keep parlors warm or to produce steam to turn a turbine and produce electricity. Excess electricity can be sold.
Earlier research by Welsh and colleagues found widespread interest among smaller-scale dairy farmers in New York State for digester technology. And digesters are smaller-farm technologies in many nations around the world including Asia and Central America. The Clarkson engineers found that adding biomass from sources such as spoiled silage or hay and even kitchen waste through a leachate system in conjunction with a smaller and cheaper design, made smaller-scale digesters economically viable for smaller dairy farms (fewer than 200 milking cows).
The team will use the current grant funds to establish an educational and extension site at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Learning Farm in St. Lawrence County, New York. Welsh will conduct focus group and individual interviews with farmers viewing the pilot digester and attending informational sessions. The purpose is to measure the effects on knowledge about digesters as well as generate interest in this form of alternative distributed energy.
FST 202 Agroecology Maymester 2014
This course explores the biological processes that undergird the food production system on which we all depend. Course topics include soil fertility and quality, pest ecology, nutrient cycling and socioeconomic and policy aspects of agricultural production. The course will address questions like:
- What is Agroecology?
- How important is soil health and quality for the food we eat?
- What can we do to control insect and week pests and plant pathogens?
- How can we build a sustainable agricultural system?
The class meets Monday through Friday from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm in CH 003 and is open to all majors and non-majors.
Falk students, faculty advocate for women's human rights to adequate food, nutrition at United Nations meetings
Students in the Falk College’s new graduate course, FST 700—Gender, Food, and Rights attended the United Nations’ (UN) annual Committee on the Status of Women (CSW) meetings over Spring Break. Led by food studies professor, Anne Bellows, three students, Melanie Shaffer-Cutillo, Karen Cordano, and Stacia Martelli canvassed official meetings on issues related to women’s human right to adequate food and nutrition as official delegates of the non-governmental organization, Food First Information Action Network (FIAN) International. Bellows is an editorial board member and contributor to the FIAN worldwide publication, “The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch.”
The Gender, Food and Rights course the students are enrolled in advances inquiry introduced in another Falk food studies course, FST 403/603—Right to Food and Nutrition and foregrounds a focus on the relationship between the human right to adequate food and nutrition and women’s rights. The class operates from an investigation into the question, when so many call for the inclusion of women into food and nutrition programs and policy making, why do women and girls continue to experience hunger and malnutrition at greater rates than do men across diverse demographic groups experiencing right to food violations?
The CSW meetings introduced students to often unexpected facets of international policy work. At one event organized by the Rutgers University Women’s Global Leadership Center, non-governmental organizations (NGO) and social movement representatives of the Post 2015 Women’s Coalition met to discuss strategies to advocate for women’s human rights. “The needs of individual attendees that we read about in theoretical form in class were presented as visceral demands, even of life and death. The ability to be heard and have a position acknowledged, incorporated and to convince others to make it a priority is often as much a product of an attendee’s personality as it is the quality of an argument they convey,” says SU student Karen Cordano.
Melanie Shaffer-Cutillo, a Falk College graduate student in the Global Health and Child and Family Studies programs, attended a number of the UN CSW panels on women’s rights to access and control over local development and resources in policy and programming. Attending the UN CSW events provided insights into the complexities of developing, challenging, and implementing public policy both across political scales from the local and national, to the regional and international, and across thematic policy silos, such as women’s rights and the right to adequate food and nutrition. Participation was compelling, inspiring, and frustrating. “This experience will remain with us on personal and professional levels,” concludes Shaffer-Cutillo.
Read more about the students’ experiences at the United Nations CSW meetings in the Spring 2014 edition of Falk College Magazine coming soon.
Falk College honored with 2014 Chancellor’s Awards for Public Engagement & Scholarship
The Falk College is pleased to announce that its students representing 21 courses, student organizations, field placements/internships and community efforts, and their faculty-staff advisors, were recognized with 2014 Chancellor’s Awards for Public Engagement and Scholarship (CAPES) during a ceremony April 23. The Chancellor’s Awards for Public Engagement and Scholarship are given each year to Syracuse University students and groups who exemplify the highest ideal of sustained, quality engagement with citizens in our community.
Social work student, Joshua Berman ’14, received a Chancellor’s Citation. He is an active leader serving as a Falk College peer advisor, teaching assistant for the first-year social work gateway course, and co-executive director and board member of Orange Seeds first-year leadership program. He is also active with SU Collegiate Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service, and Elmcrest Children’s Center.
Over the years, many students indicated the desire to honor special faculty, staff or community partners who have been motivating to them as they made their way into the community. A 2014 Inspiration Award was presented to Bette Brown Thoreck, B.S.S.W. program director.
FST 402—Feeding the City received an honorable mention in the category of Innovation in Academic Achievement. This course investigates the relationship between food systems and cities, including a deliverable item for a community partner. The Falk College received several honors in the category of Legacy Award for Academic Achievement for meaningful and sustained engagement:
Students enrolled in the Department of Child and Family Studies’ internship courses (CFS 433, 493, and 494) were recognized for their service to the community. CFS internships place seniors in social service agencies, schools, and early childhood education facilities throughout Central New York.
Legacy awards were presented to the Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition for: HTW 307—Culturally Competent Healthcare; HTW 227—Healthy You; HTW 304—Public Health: Community Health Education; HTW 311—Health Literacy and the Genesis Health Project Network; NSD 511—Nutrition Education; NSD 513—Nutrition Education Experience: Orange Wrap, and; NSD 658—Participatory Program Planning. These groups were selected for their on-going, outstanding work in improving the health of others in the University and greater Syracuse community.
Second-year students in the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) were recognized for the more than 7,500 hours of individual, couple and family therapy provided. TheMFT Transgender Team, one of the largest transgender programs in upstate New York, was honored for providing access to care many clients might not otherwise be able to afford. School of Social Work students enrolled in field placement courses in the BSSW and MSW programs (SWK 435, 445, 671, 672, 771, 772) and SWK 301—Foundations of Social Work Practice received awards for their on-going, outstanding work in improving the quality of life in the greater Syracuse community.
Falk College announces new bachelor of science in food studies; now enrolling majors for Fall 2014
The Falk College today announced a new bachelor of science degree in Food Studies. The new program, which is now enrolling majors for Fall 2014, provides a thorough understanding of food systems, politics and economies from production to consumption locally, nationally and globally. Students develop marketable skills, such as data management and analysis, food preparation and presentation, and the ability and knowledge to link these skills to the growing interest in food systems. The opportunity to pair the food studies major with minors within the Falk College and throughout Syracuse University, such as public health, nutrition, social sciences, policy studies or communications, offers students unique and marketable complements to their degree programs.
Students with a bachelor of science degree in food studies might seek employment with government agencies dealing with food and agriculture issues, food-oriented non-governmental organizations that work on sustainability and food security issues, and food processing, preparation and distribution firms. These jobs include positions in program evaluation, policy analysis, marketing and community outreach and project management. The food studies major provides excellent preparation for further graduate studies in social science and legal and policy approaches to food.
The Falk College’s undergraduate program in food studies is distinct from other programs. The presence of extensive kitchens and a professional staff of chefs, combined with nutrition, food policy and public health experts, creates a more diverse and extensive program than is available elsewhere. The new 120-credit degree takes a multi-level, holistic approach to food. Core food studies classes include explorations in contemporary food issues, food science, agroecology, right to food and nutrition, ethics, research and evaluation. The curriculum offers two concentrations: one in food politics and governance and a second in community food systems and gastronomy. The major concludes with a senior-level research project or practicum experience. Practicum sites include organizations such as the Central New York Regional Market, Renzi Food Service, CNY Food Bank, Syracuse Grows, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Slow Food, Southwest Community Farm (urban farm), Syracuse Real Food Coop, Nojaim Bros. Supermarket, and area farms and restaurants.
Falk College Participates in Global Efforts to Educate, Engage Grassroots Efforts to Alleviate Hunger
Today 50 million Americans, including 17 million children, are living in households unable to afford adequate food, according to the International Human Rights Clinic at New York University. The 2013 edition of the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch, an international publication unveiled today in English, Spanish and French, explores global issues surrounding the right to food and nutrition. The Watch’s accessible, timely and relevant analysis and case studies provide grassroots organizations confronted by violations to the right to adequate food and nutrition examples of how civil society groups have taken action at the local, regional, and international levels. The articles generate awareness on alternative food systems and strategies, and encourage resistance to current policies that generate, rather than alleviate, hunger.
“This year’s Watch launch marks an ongoing, six-year effort to bring the human rights framework alive by providing a platform for public interest civil society voices–as rights holders to hold national states–as duty bearers accountable to realize progressively the right to adequate food and nutrition,” says Anne C. Bellows, Ph.D., Watch editorial board member, contributor, and professor of food studies in the Falk College at Syracuse University.
The Watch is scheduled to launch today in major cities throughout the world. In addition to Syracuse, NY, launch sites include Berlin, Bogota, Brussels, Cotonou, Geneva, The Hague, New York City, Oslo, Quito, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna and Zurich. The Watch is published each year by the Food First Information and Action Network, or FIAN, in cooperation with Bread for the World and ICCO Cooperation, three international human rights and development organizations.
The launch in Syracuse demonstrates growing interest in the U.S. to become more involved in international human rights-based approaches to food and nutrition security. Last month, the rights-focused, U.S.-based Buddhist Global Relief program was introduced at Syracuse University. Earlier this year, the International Human Rights Committee at New York University issued a report, Nourishing Change on the right to food in the U.S. “The Watch’s articles have immediate relevance to the day-to-day political struggles in the U.S. Congress and on our Syracuse streets,” notes Bellows. Syracuse University’s Falk College currently offers courses in food studies including a human rights framework in related teaching, research, and local and global community outreach.
As the United Nations’ annual meeting of the Committee on Food Security (CFS) unfolds during October 7-11, and World Food Day approaches (Oct. 16), the Watch’s Oct. 8 release date hopes to bring increased awareness to the widespread violations to the right to adequate food and nutrition experienced throughout the world and to propose creative solutions, most often generated at the local level.
The 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was elaborated in 1999 to define the right to adequate food as realized when “every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.” Still, 14 years later and to the shame of the Millennium Development Goals to halve hunger by 2015, the right to adequate food is unrealized for close to one billion people worldwide.
Falk College Professor Rick Welsh receives 2013 Fred Buttel Outstanding Scholarly Achievement Award
The Rural Sociological Society (RSS) honored Rick Welsh, Ph.D., professor of food studies in the Falk College’s Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition, for exceptional contributions to the field of rural sociology with the 2013 Fred Buttel Outstanding Scholarly Achievement Award. This distinguished honor recognizes excellence in scholarly work in the same spirit exemplified by the late Fred Buttel, a prominent scholar of the sociology of agriculture and environmental sociology.
The award was presented to Welsh and co-investigators Leland L. Glenna, David Ervin, William B. Lacy and Dina Biscotti at the annual meeting of RSS in August 2013 for the journal article, “Commercial Science, Scientists’ Values, and University Biotechnology Research Agenda.” The study, published in Research Policy, examined the interaction between innovation, technology or research, and economic, social, political and organizational processes. Reviewers described Welsh’s collaborative work as “a major contribution to the literature on agricultural science and technology—a central dimension of Fred Buttel’s contribution to rural sociology.”
The research will measure the ecological, social and economic impacts of 50 restored public-private partnership (PPP) wetlands on private landholdings within the Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River watershed in New York State. PPP wetlands are important for conserving and restoring wetlands in the Great Lakes watershed. However, minimal assessments have been conducted to understand how these programs impact wetland-associated biodiversity within agricultural landscapes. Even less is known about the impact of wetland restoration on property values, as well as landowner motivations for participation in these projects.
The Water Center is part of the University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute and is supported by funds from the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation and the University of Michigan. Welsh will be working with co-investigators Tom Langen (Clarkson University) and David Chandler (Syracuse University). The project will engage the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Ducks Unlimited, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Dr. Welsh joined the Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition as a Professor of Food Studies in August, 2012. Prior to taking this position he worked at Clarkson University as a Professor of Sociology. Previous positions have included Policy Analyst with the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture and the Director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program for the Southern Region. He serves as editor-in-chief for the journal, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, published by Cambridge University Press. His research and teaching focus on social change and development with emphases on agri-food systems, science and technology studies and environmental sociology. He holds a Ph.D. in development sociology from Cornell University, M.S. in food and resource economics from the University of Florida, and B.A. in economics from the College of William and Mary.
Bellows’ UN presentation explores gender, nutrition and adequate food
The barriers to women’s access to adequate food and nutrition were the focus of a presentation by Anne C. Bellows, Ph.D., Falk College professor of food studies, at the United Nation’s forum series: The Future of Global Food Policy this spring. Bellows’ presentation entitled, “Eating, Feeding, Being Fed: Gender, Nutrition and the Human Right to Adequate Food,” explored why the food and nutrition status of women and girls is not improving despite a global call for the inclusion of women and an international gender perspective.
“Institutionalized gender discrimination and structural violence impose barriers to women enjoying the right to adequate food and nutrition,” notes Bellows. “We need harmonization of legal, institutional, and policy mechanisms that could promote a gendered analysis of, and action on, the intersection of all of women’s rights over the lifetime and the right to adequate food.”
The FoodFirst Information Action Network (FIAN International), the Geneva Infant Feeding Association (GIFA, Swiss arm of the International Baby Food Action Network, IBFAN) and a coordinated group of researchers at Syracuse University and the University of Hohenheim (Stuttgart) continue to explore this issue and will soon release a book entitled Gender, Nutrition and the Human Right to Adequate Food (Routledge Taylor and Francis Group).
Dr. Bellows joined Syracuse University in January 2013. As University Professor since 2007 at Hohenheim University, Bellows was the tenured chair in the Department of Gender and Nutrition and deputy director of the Institute for Social Sciences in Agriculture in the Faculty of Agriculture. She was also the director of the Research Center for Gender and Nutrition, a think tank for the university.
With an extensive portfolio of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and presentations, her research interests include food and nutrition systems and economies; linkages between sustainable agriculture, development and livelihoods; human rights and the right to adequate food and nutrition, including food and nutrition security; civil society, social movements, and food sovereignty; community public health; urban-rural food linkages in terms of production for trade and household consumption, migration, nutritional health, biodiversity, food safety, food practices and praxis, cultural integrity and identity, social justice, gender, and children. She has been recognized for teaching and research excellence, receiving funding support for her work from diverse agencies and foundations.
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